Colorado State (12-13, 8-2 MW) is looking to capture a .500 winning percentage after a 4-11 start to the season. The team travels to Arena Auditorium to challenge Wyoming (10-13, 6-4) Saturday at 2 p.m. MT.

After a 2-3 start to the conference schedule, Wyoming has won four of its past five games, including victories over TCU and UNLV. The Cowgirls most recently defeated Air Force on the road, 71-58.

CSU is off to its best start in conference play since 2001-02 when the Rams finished 12-2 in the Mountain West. Colorado State is safe and secure in second place in the league standings, with a two-game lead over the two teams tied for third (UNLV and Wyoming). CSU currently has the longest win streak in the Mountain West at four games.

CSU's Kim Mestdagh earned the preseason Player of the Year title to start the 2011-12 season. She was the first to earn the honor since Becky Hammon in 1998-99. CSU was picked to finish third in the final standings. It was the highest prediction for the Rams since the 2002-03 season, when CSU was picked to finish in second place.

The game will be broadcast live on AM 1410 KIIX. Matt Wozniak, in his third season with the Rams, calls all the action. Live game audio will also be available via Rams All-Access subscription on CSURams.com.

Rams vs. Cowgirls series... Saturday's meeting between Colorado State and Wyoming will be the 84th game between the two schools. This is Head Coach Kristen Holt's ninth contest vs. the Broncos. She is 2-6 with a win at home earlier this season.

The Rams are 42-41 vs. the Cowgirls overall with an 16-21 record in Laramie. CSU has not beaten Wyoming in Arena Auditorium since 2002.

Last time vs. Wyoming: Jan. 21, 2012... Colorado State forced a turnover on a critical defensive stand in the final minute to secure a 62-58 triumph over Wyoming at Moby Arena.

The Rams (7-12, 3-1) had a season-low of 11 turnovers in the game. It was Head Coach Kristen Holt's second career victory over Wyoming (6-11, 2-2). The Rams also broke the Cowgirls' four-game winning streak for the all-time series. Entering the game, CSU had lost 13 of 14 meetings with Wyoming since a win on Jan. 28, 2005.

Sophomore Hayley Thompson recorded a season-high nine points. She also collected two steals.

Senior Kim Mestdagh scored 21 points, her second consecutive game over 20. She was 8-for-14 from the field and 3-for-6 beyond the arc. She also collected five rebounds.

Wyoming's Kayla Woodward scored 23 points, and was 3-of-3 beyond the arc. Wyoming usually shoots 24.3 percent from the three-point line, but Saturday it shot 77.8 percent to stay in the game.

CSU junior Meghan Heimstra scored eight points and recorded two rebounds. Junior Kelly Hartig scored eight points and had two assists, helping to fill the void left by Sam Martin who was in foul trouble early in the contest.

About Wyoming...

Down by seven at the end of the first at Air Force Wednesday, Wyoming switched gears and recorded an explosive second half, scoring 51 points for the 71-58 victory. Ashley Sickles and Kayla Woodward each tallied double-doubles. Sickles led the charge with a career-high 26 points and 12 rebounds, while Woodward recorded 19 points and 12 boards. Kaitlyn Mileto also registered double figures with 10 points.

Though the Rams have more first-place rankings in the statistical categories with eight, Wyoming appears in the top-three more often than CSU in 14 categories. Here's a look at where the Rams fall compared to the Cowgirls in the top-three in the league statistics (MW games only; higher rank in bold):

Category

Wyoming

CSU

Scoring Defense

1st; 54.1

3rd; 56.6

Scoring Margin

3rd; +9.0

2nd; +9.7

Field-goal percentage

2nd; .436

1st; .485

Field-goal percentage defense

1st; .359

2nd; .366

Three-point field-goal percentage

3rd; .371

1st; .400

Three-point field-goal percentage defense

2nd; .304

7th; .366

Rebounding Offense

3rd; 37.7

6th; 34.1

Rebounding Defense

3rd; 33.7

1st; 31.9

Rebounding Margin

2nd; +4.0

4th; +2.2

Assists

3rd; 13.3

1st; 17.8

Assist-to-turnover ratio

2nd; 0.9

1st; 1.0

Defensive rebounds

1st; 25.3

2nd; 23.7

Offensive rebounding percentage

3rd; .385

5th; .349

Three-pointers made

3rd; 5.6

4th; 5.0

The Cowgirls have four players who have started all ten MW games: Woodward, Chaundra Sewell, Sickles and Mileto. Chelan Landry, who got the start for the first nine games, came off the bench in the last contest in favor of Alison Gorrell.

Since league play began the Cowgrils have three players averaging double-digits: Woodward (17.4), Sewell (13.8) and Sickles (10.5). Sewell and Woodward are the teams' leading rebounds with 8.0 and 7.1 respectively.

Wyoming's 13.6 turnover average ranks 13th in the nation. The team's personal fouls (13.8) ranks 23rd and its assist-to-turnover ratio (0.86) falls in at 82nd.

Individually, Sewell's 8.8 rebounds per game ranks 71st and her .467 field-goal percentage is 79th.

Last time out... The Colorado State women's basketball team won, 67-58 over Boise State on Tuesday night at Moby Arena in a close game. It's the first time that the Rams have guaranteed a winning record in the Mountain West since the 2003-04 season.

Colorado State (12-13, 8-2 MW) led the whole game, but with four minutes to go, Boise State (13-12, 4-6) tied the game at 54. Senior Kim Mestdagh shot and missed a three-pointer but senior Kelly Hartig got the offensive rebound. Mestdagh shot another three-pointer and made it while sophomore Hayley Thompson got fouled and made both of her free throws to give the Rams a five-point play.

It was a break-out night for Hartig who had a career-high 20 points and a career-high nine rebounds. She shot 9-for-11 from the field.

Colorado State started the game off strong going on a 13-2 run against the Broncos. In the first three minutes of the game, Mestdagh already had three steals. She ended up with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.

The Rams started half time just like they started the game, with lots of energy.

The Broncos found their rhythm by going on an 8-2 run with five minutes to go, but Colorado State got their game back and pushed through to the end.

This is the highest amount of wins Holt has ever gotten here at Colorado State in Mountain West play.

One win away from 50... With 49 wins at CSU, Head Coach Kristen Holt is just one victory away from the mid-century mark. With at least five games remaining this season, Holt is on pace to become the fifth head coach in program history to achieve 50 or more wins at Colorado State.

If Holt tallies 50 in the win column this season, she will become just the third coach to reach 50 wins in four seasons or less. Former head coach Chris Denker achieved 50 wins in three seasons, and Tom Collen led the squad with former standout Becky Hammon to 50 wins in just two seasons at the helm.